SciCombinator

There is some evidence to suggest that dog ownership may improve physical activity (PA) among older adults, but to date, studies examining this, have either depended on self-report or incomplete datasets due to the type of activity monitor used to record physical activity. Additionally, the effect of dog ownership on sedentary behaviour (SB) has not been explored. The aim of the current study was to address these issues by using activPAL monitors to evaluate the influence of dog ownership on health enhancing PA and SB in a longitudinal study of independently-mobile, community-dwelling older adults.

To estimate the association between the duration and level of exposure to different classes of anticholinergic drugs and subsequent incident dementia.

 To determine the risk of venous thromboembolism associated with use of testosterone treatment in men, focusing particularly on the timing of the risk.

Multiple studies of ovarian cancer and genital talc use have led only to consensus about possible carcinogenicity. Seeking greater clarity, we examined this association in 2041 cases with epithelial ovarian cancer and 2100 age-and-residence-matched controls.

Considering that epidemiological studies show that suicide rates in many countries are highest in the spring when vitamin D status is lowest, and that low vitamin D status can affect brain function, we sought to evaluate if a low level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] could be a predisposing factor for suicide.

BACKGROUND: Children’s fractures have been enlisted among orthopaedics complaints of childhood obesity. Unhealthy lifestyle behaviours may contribute to increased risk. This study described the prevalence of overweight/obesity in children and adolescents reporting a recent fracture in relation to gender, dynamic of trauma, and site of fracture. METHODS: Four-hundred-forty-nine children and adolescents with fracture and 130 fracture-free controls were recruited from a large children’s hospital. The interaction between overweight and gender, dynamic of trauma, site of fracture was explored. Sports participation, television viewing, and calcium intake were also investigated. RESULTS: Overweight/obesity rate was increased in girls with fracture either at the upper or the lower limb (p= 0.004), while it was increased only in boys with fracture at the lower limb (p <0.02). Overweight/obesity rate did not differ between groups with low or moderate trauma. TV viewing [greater than or equal to] 2 hrs was more frequent in children with fractures than controls (61.5% vs 34.5%, p =0.015) in the overweight/obese group. CONCLUSIONS: The increased prevalence of overweight/obesity in children with fractures is related to gender and site of fracture. Higher levels of sedentary behaviours characterize overweight children reporting fractures.

A case-control study was conducted to evaluate the role of adult diet on nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) in Taiwan.

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is endemic to Europe and medically highly significant. This study, focused on Poland, investigated individual risk factors for TBE symptomatic infection.

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) polymorphism may be a risk factor for male infertility. However, the epidemiologic studies showed inconsistent results regarding MTHFR polymorphism and the risk of male infertility. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis of published case-control studies to re-examine the controversy.

It is still debated if pre-existing minority drug-resistant HIV-1 variants (MVs) affect the virological outcomes of first-line NNRTI-containing ART.